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American Morning
Interview With Con Coughlin
Aired November 12, 2002 - 07:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As we have been reporting, Iraq's parliament is filled with Saddam's supporters. Yet word is that he will ultimately OK the return of weapons inspectors.
Is Saddam playing some sort of political shell game here?
Con Coughlin is the author of "Saddam, King of Terror," and executive editor of "The London Sunday Telegraph." He joins us now from Washington.
Good to see you, sir -- thanks for joining us this morning.
CON COUGHLIN, "SADDAM, KING OF TERROR": Good morning.
ZAHN: So, we just heard Jane Arraf reporting out of Baghdad the parliament outright rejecting this, after Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, encouraged them to approve it. And that she made it clear this now goes on to the Revolutionary Command Council, which Saddam Hussein presides over.
Is this whole parliament action a joke?
COUGHLIN: Well, it was actually a very clever political maneuver by Saddam. I mean, you know, I think people thought Saddam was cornered. But yet again, he's indulging in the brinkmanship we saw him so expert in during the Gulf War.
What he wants, really, is to really just test this resolution out. In the U.S., we think that this resolution is so strong, so tough, there's no way out for Saddam. But that's not the way Saddam thinks. He's trying to push it to see if there is any room for maneuver.
Now, as your correspondent says, he controls entirely the parliament. He controls entirely the Revolutionary Command Council. But by -- and he's clearly ordered the parliament to reject this resolution.
Now, there are two things that he might do here. First of all, he is trying to see whether, say, the Russians or the French might send an emergency mission to Baghdad to see if there is more diplomacy to be undertook. And remember, we spent two months at the U.N. trying to sort out this resolution.
And the other thing, of course, is that I think -- I mean, I will find it amazing if he doesn't accept the resolution on Friday, but when he does make this big gesture, it will make him look magnanimous to people like the Russians and the French. And it means that when the inspectors go back, people are going to have some sympathy with Saddam's position.
ZAHN: You don't think that people see right through this maneuvering? Isn't it pretty obvious?
COUGHLIN: Well, I think we do here, but as I say -- I mean, just remember, there's been two months of very hard negotiations at the U.N. And there are people at the U.N. who are not at all in favor either of this resolution or of its implications.
And as I said, in the lead-up to the Gulf War -- I mean, in my book, I detail this a lot -- he had everybody playing against each other. The Russians were going to Baghdad, the French were going to Baghdad. There were last-minute interventions, even from the American State Department.
And -- I mean, what the world wants is to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. That's our bottom line. And he just wants to see how much he can get away with before he has to face the inevitable.
ZAHN: Well, let me ask you that. What are the chances that he'll get the first prong of what you just laid out this morning, the idea of maybe a Russian team or a French team heading to Baghdad in advance of this Friday vote?
COUGHLIN: Well, it will be very tempting, particularly for the Russians to launch themselves into yet another round of diplomacy to save Saddam. They have historically very close ties to Saddam. They have very great trade interests with Baghdad. And as we've seen over the last two months, they are not at all in favor of this resolution.
I do think, though, that because we've had such a long period in negotiation of the U.N. resolution, I think if anybody breaks ranks now, it will be a disaster. And I don't think anybody should be in any doubt about the iron will that lies in Washington with regard to Baghdad.
ZAHN: So, when all is said and done on Friday, do you think Saddam says yes?
COUGHLIN: Well, as I say -- I mean, we can't exactly predict what goes on in Saddam's head. If we could, we wouldn't be in this mess. But I personally would be very surprised if Saddam does not accept the resolution on Friday.
ZAHN: Con Coughlin, great to have you with us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING. We'd love to have you back -- appreciate your time.
COUGHLIN: Pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 12, 2002 - 07:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As we have been reporting, Iraq's parliament is filled with Saddam's supporters. Yet word is that he will ultimately OK the return of weapons inspectors.
Is Saddam playing some sort of political shell game here?
Con Coughlin is the author of "Saddam, King of Terror," and executive editor of "The London Sunday Telegraph." He joins us now from Washington.
Good to see you, sir -- thanks for joining us this morning.
CON COUGHLIN, "SADDAM, KING OF TERROR": Good morning.
ZAHN: So, we just heard Jane Arraf reporting out of Baghdad the parliament outright rejecting this, after Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, encouraged them to approve it. And that she made it clear this now goes on to the Revolutionary Command Council, which Saddam Hussein presides over.
Is this whole parliament action a joke?
COUGHLIN: Well, it was actually a very clever political maneuver by Saddam. I mean, you know, I think people thought Saddam was cornered. But yet again, he's indulging in the brinkmanship we saw him so expert in during the Gulf War.
What he wants, really, is to really just test this resolution out. In the U.S., we think that this resolution is so strong, so tough, there's no way out for Saddam. But that's not the way Saddam thinks. He's trying to push it to see if there is any room for maneuver.
Now, as your correspondent says, he controls entirely the parliament. He controls entirely the Revolutionary Command Council. But by -- and he's clearly ordered the parliament to reject this resolution.
Now, there are two things that he might do here. First of all, he is trying to see whether, say, the Russians or the French might send an emergency mission to Baghdad to see if there is more diplomacy to be undertook. And remember, we spent two months at the U.N. trying to sort out this resolution.
And the other thing, of course, is that I think -- I mean, I will find it amazing if he doesn't accept the resolution on Friday, but when he does make this big gesture, it will make him look magnanimous to people like the Russians and the French. And it means that when the inspectors go back, people are going to have some sympathy with Saddam's position.
ZAHN: You don't think that people see right through this maneuvering? Isn't it pretty obvious?
COUGHLIN: Well, I think we do here, but as I say -- I mean, just remember, there's been two months of very hard negotiations at the U.N. And there are people at the U.N. who are not at all in favor either of this resolution or of its implications.
And as I said, in the lead-up to the Gulf War -- I mean, in my book, I detail this a lot -- he had everybody playing against each other. The Russians were going to Baghdad, the French were going to Baghdad. There were last-minute interventions, even from the American State Department.
And -- I mean, what the world wants is to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. That's our bottom line. And he just wants to see how much he can get away with before he has to face the inevitable.
ZAHN: Well, let me ask you that. What are the chances that he'll get the first prong of what you just laid out this morning, the idea of maybe a Russian team or a French team heading to Baghdad in advance of this Friday vote?
COUGHLIN: Well, it will be very tempting, particularly for the Russians to launch themselves into yet another round of diplomacy to save Saddam. They have historically very close ties to Saddam. They have very great trade interests with Baghdad. And as we've seen over the last two months, they are not at all in favor of this resolution.
I do think, though, that because we've had such a long period in negotiation of the U.N. resolution, I think if anybody breaks ranks now, it will be a disaster. And I don't think anybody should be in any doubt about the iron will that lies in Washington with regard to Baghdad.
ZAHN: So, when all is said and done on Friday, do you think Saddam says yes?
COUGHLIN: Well, as I say -- I mean, we can't exactly predict what goes on in Saddam's head. If we could, we wouldn't be in this mess. But I personally would be very surprised if Saddam does not accept the resolution on Friday.
ZAHN: Con Coughlin, great to have you with us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING. We'd love to have you back -- appreciate your time.
COUGHLIN: Pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
